Chapter 121 The New Wave of Movies
"Hold your chest, sink your shoulders, drop your elbows..."
Yang Ye carefully corrected Zong Yougui's posture.
Speaking of which, it has been two years since the two became master and apprentice, but they have not spent much time together.
Because Yang Ye is always traveling around the world, now that Yang Ye has returned to Hong Kong and has temporarily stabilized, he has begun to teach this female disciple seriously.
After practicing for a while, Yang Ye said: "Take a rest!"
The two found a place to sit down, and Yang Ye said: "Guizi, in the past two years, you have strictly followed the tutorials I assigned you to train. Strength , the speed has increased a lot, and the performance is good!"
Zong Yougui said happily: "I couldn't beat Yuan Qiu before, but now she doesn't dare to fight with me."
Yang Yexin. People who say that training with modern scientific methods, coupled with specially customized recipes, can't beat traditional training methods are a ghost.
Yang Yedao: "In recent years, women's judo has gradually become popular around the world. Therefore, the International Judo Federation has officially decided to hold a women's judo competition and made specific regulations on the level of women's competition. You will return to your country to participate next year. Let’s compete. If nothing unexpected happens, the International Judo Federation should hold the World Women’s Judo Competition in a year or two, and you will come back with a gold medal.”
Zong Yougui hesitated and said: "Master, can I do it?"
Yang Ye rubbed her hair and smiled: "You are my only disciple, how can you not do it?"
Zong Yougui has not been idle in the past two years. She has practiced martial arts with her father since she was a child. She has a good foundation. Yang Ye will check her training results whenever she returns to Hong Kong in the past two years, so that she does not dare to steal at all.
The results are gratifying. Some women who practice martial arts in Hong Kong have competed with her. At first it was difficult for her to beat others, but now no one can beat her.
During the Spring Festival this year, she went back to Japan, and it turned out that none of the female disciples in her father's gym were her match.
After Zong Daocheng saw the results of his daughter's training, he was very happy and ordered his daughter to return to Hong Kong and stay with Yang Ye to continue training.
After the two chatted for a few words, Zong Yougui ran up behind Yang Ye obediently and squeezed his shoulders.
Yang Ye felt happy for a while, took Zong Yougui's hand, asked her to sit next to him, and said: "When you followed your father, in addition to practicing, didn't you also help manage the daily affairs of the martial arts gym? "
Zong Yougui said: "Yes!"
"Well, Master's martial arts gym is about to open, can you be the manager?"
"Ah?"
"Ah what? You are Master's beloved disciple, so naturally you have to help Master share some of the burden. Besides, you also have experience in this area, so it's better than Master's blank eyes."
In 1980, after Zong Daocheng's death, Zong Yugui took over the "Japan Shaolin Temple Boxing Alliance" and developed it into a large chain company with more than 1.5 million members and martial arts schools all over the world, which shows its ability. That's why Yang Ye chose Zong Yougui to be the manager of the martial arts gym and responsible for daily affairs.
Zong Yougui said: "Master, I think you are very good at everything you do, you are the strongest."
Yang Ye was happy, touched her white and tender face, and said: "You really can talk."
...
While Yang Ye was preparing for the martial arts gym, Baiyang Cinema was in full swing.
In Hong Kong, September to November are three consecutive months of regular schedules. During these three months, Baiyang Pictures did not release any movies at all.
There has been a lot of backlog of movies in Hong Kong in the past few years. As soon as Baiyang Cinema announced the cancellation of the "guaranteed fee", major film companies came to beg for release with copies.
Jiang Zhiqiang recruited a film review team and watched these bad movies every day until he almost went blind.
The results are gratifying. Except for the films that are too outrageous and too bad to watch, most of the films have been given the opportunity to be released.
The six multiplex cinemas of Baiyang Cinemas have a total of 46 screens. Together with the other six auxiliary single-screen cinemas, the number of screens reaches 52.
Jiahe only has 20 screens and Shaw Brothers has 18. Both of them combined are not as many as Baiyang.
As a result, Baiyang Cinema Line’s film schedule is very flexible, with as many as ten movies being screened at the same time a day, and more than three movies can be screened at the same time during prime time.
For traditional single-hall cinemas, this is simply a dimensionality reduction blow.
Because audiences have more choices, while single-hall cinemas can only watch one movie at a time.
In the United States, emerging multiplex cinemas are organically integrated with shopping malls. Shopping malls and cinemas bring traffic to each other, and business is very booming.
Mainland China introduced multiplex cinemas in the late 1990s. It was first piloted in Zhejiang. The cost was recovered within one year and huge profits were made. Since then, large auditorium-style cinemas have quickly disappeared.
In just a few months, young people in Hong Kong have formed a consumption trend. When they are dating, they like to go to Dong Lai Plaza to go shopping, watch movies (play arcade machines), and eat three times in a row. Then find a hotel nearby and book a room.
Donglai Plaza is not in the most prosperous city center, so the hotel business here is average, but now it is very popular. The owner of the hotel has eight generations of Yang Ye’s ancestors to thank.
……
Jiahe Company.
The three founders, Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang and Liang Feng, gathered together to smoke, looking solemn.
After Baiyang Cinema announced the cancellation of the bottom-line fee, it quickly obtained a large number of film sources. Even some satellite companies of Golden Harvest were ready to move and wanted to bring the backlog of movies to Baiyang Cinema for release.
The sense of oppression given by Baiyang Cinema was so strong that Zou Wenhuai even had the idea of killing Yang Ye. It was not impossible for Zou Wenhuai to do it.
In the 1990s, Li Lianjie found a new agent, Cai Ziming, and wanted to leave Jiahe to work alone. Jiahe hired someone to kill Cai Ziming. Then Li Lianjie continued to cooperate with Jiahe until he found a backer in Taiwan, and finally got rid of Jiahe's control.
However, after careful consideration, Zou Wenhuai still gave up the plan to kill Yang Ye. First of all, Yang Ye's force value was too high and he couldn't be killed by a gun. If he didn't kill the person, he would have to bear Yang Ye's revenge.
Yang Ye came from the Kowloon Walled City, and Zou Wenhuai wondered if he could afford to offend those lunatics.
Then, Yang Ye’s influence in Chinese society is too great, and Jiahe now is not as awesome as it was in the 1990s. Yang Ye is dead, and Zou Wenhuai can't escape. It's hard for others to say, but Run Run Shaw will definitely take the opportunity to add insult to injury and get rid of this competitor.
So, what if you don't kill Yang Ye, find connections with the society, and go to his place to cause trouble?
No, after Yang Ye’s Donglai Plaza was built, he did two things to maintain the safety and stability of the place.
First, I took the initiative to pay a fee to the nearby association in charge.
Second, a large group of young people from Kowloon Walled City were recruited to watch the show.
Of course, this money will eventually be spread into the rent.
Hong Kong's associations are not willing to provoke the city wall, and Yang Ye is so righteous, so he never goes to Donglai Square to collect protection fees or cause trouble.
If someone is blind, they will even help deal with it.
In this case, Zou Wenhuai's desire to find someone to cause trouble is simply nonsense.
The black man could no longer play, so Jiahe had no choice but to cancel the minimum fee.
As a result, Jiahe lost a lot of income, and those bad movies that were kept at the bottom of the box were also a pitfall for Jiahe to be released.
Jiahe is a single-room theater, with each theater having a minimum of four to five hundred seats and a maximum of seven to eight hundred seats.
Showing a bad movie in such a big screening hall, with ten or so people sitting sparsely... the cost will not be recovered, and every show will be a loss.
Liang Feng sighed: "Our single-room theater is simply not as flexible as Yang Ye's multi-room theater. Their hall can even be as small as thirty people, and any movie can be scheduled. If things continue like this , all small and medium-sized film companies in Hong Kong will be attracted by Yang Ye's bad boy." He Guanchang said: "The printing fee is not cheap for such a small hall, is it worthwhile?"
< br>Liang Fengdao: "Their small hall is called the VIP hall. It has luxurious facilities and leather sofas. The seats are widely spaced and the privacy is very good. The ticket price is twice as expensive as that of the ordinary hall. It is used to show some literary and artistic films, romantic movies and so on. , it is very popular, and many salty guys come here to masturbate! ”
"This..." He Guanchang was speechless for a while, and then said after being stunned for a long time, "So the seats are made of leather for easy wiping?"
"Huh?" Liang Feng was also confused, "Probably so. , why didn’t I think of it?”
The two of them wanted to laugh, but now was really not the time to laugh, so they tried their best to hold it back.
Liang Feng said sternly: "I have already investigated. Multiplex theaters in Europe and the United States began to rise ten years ago, and now they have completely replaced single-room theaters in cities. Yang Ye will have more If we don’t make changes in time to introduce cinemas to Hong Kong, we will only be dead.”
Zou Wenhuai said: “So you mean, we also build multiplex cinemas?”
Liang Feng said: "That's the only way. We are different from Shaw Brothers. Shaw Brothers can produce and sell by itself, but we can't. Without those small and medium-sized film companies, we can only go bankrupt."
Zou Wenhuai frowned and said: " Have you ever thought about it, Yang Ye’s theater is built in his shopping mall, where food, drink and entertainment are integrated. Even if we transform the theater into a multi-hall, it still can’t compare.”
He Guanchang said: “ But our location is better than that of Baiyang Cinema!"
Zou Wenhuai said: "So what? Young people like to follow the fashion and take the bus to the shopping mall for a date. They think it is very romantic.
Baiyang Cinema has released a lot of bad movies recently. Those movies were not eligible to go to theaters before, but now they are able to sell at the box office.
Why?
Because many people shop, eat, and watch movies at Donglai Plaza. This is the advantage of their integrated operation. "
He Guanchang said: "Then we can't follow suit and build shopping malls, right? "
Zou Wenhuai shook his head: "That's not necessary. I think... maybe we can rent the top floors of those department stores and transform them into multiplex theaters. "
He Guanchang and Liang Feng's eyes lit up. This is a good idea.
Zou Wenhuai said: "Yang Ye's shopping mall has a more advanced concept than those department stores and has taken away a lot of money. Customers, now that we are building theater chains, we are like providing help in times of need, people are asking for it, and the rent is easy to negotiate. What do you think? ”
He Guanchang and Liang Feng both agreed deeply after hearing this.
Zou Wenhuai said: "In fact, multiplex theaters are not without their shortcomings. They mainly attract young people. In some less prosperous places, neighbors are still used to watching movies in single-room theaters and feel more comfortable. This is why The reason why Yang Ye will acquire six single-room theaters as auxiliary ones
My plan is to keep the single-room theaters in remote areas, and divide the theaters in prosperous areas into two types, if there are suitable department stores nearby. , then negotiate with the other party to rent the top floor and build a multi-hall theater."
After Zou Wenhuai finished speaking about his idea, seeing that the two partners had no objection, he said: " Achang, how are you getting in touch with Aaron?”
He Guanchang shook his head: “Alon is now very powerful in Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, and he even entered the North American market some time ago, all because of Aye’s help. It is said that Aye is planning to direct a movie for his brothers to help them break into the European market. It doesn't matter how high the conditions we offer, they won't. Will leave.”
Zou Wenhuai frowned and said: "I heard that Aye is running a martial arts gym recently. He punched Japan and kicked North America. He is now the spiritual leader of the Chinese martial arts world. Kung Fu movies rely too much on actors and there are no good action actors. It’s no use. So we can’t compete with Kung Fu movies, so we might as well find another way.”
He Guanchang said: “How to find another way?” He is very capable, and his shooting techniques are very innovative. In comparison, the directors currently active in Hong Kong are too old-fashioned.
However, Xiao Fangfang established Colorful Film Company last year and started filming. The film "Dance of Ashes" has a very novel approach, eliminating the stale atmosphere of traditional Hong Kong films. "Dance of Ashes" also did well at the box office, with a local box office of 3.8 million, ranking fifth in the year.
I think. After all, it’s the director’s art. Since we can’t find kung fu stars, why not support some promising directors? In the past two years, some good young people have submitted scripts to me. Those scripts are very innovative, but it’s a pity that I am not familiar with them. They lack confidence and dare not take risks. Now that things have reached this point, we, Jiahe, might as well boldly recruit new people, maybe we can open up a new world.”
"Jumping Ashes" is a code word that means retailing drugs. Xiao Fangfang shot this movie with the intention of criticizing the current ills. It was a reflection of the proliferation of drugs and chaotic public security in Hong Kong at that time.
This film created a documentary-style filming method and was a bold attempt for Hong Kong films. It also became the prelude to the "New Wave of Hong Kong Films".
The so-called "New Wave of Cinema" appeared in France in the 1960s and influenced the entire human film industry. By the late 1970s, this trend spread to Hong Kong.
In 1979, Zhang Guoming's "The Soldiers", Xu Ke's "Butterfly Change", Xu Anhua's "Crazy Robbery" and Weng Wei-quan's "The Rules" officially kicked off the "New Wave of Hong Kong Film" Curtain.
Subsequently, a large wave of young directors followed suit quickly, ushering in the golden age of Hong Kong films.
Now, under the pressure of Yang Ye, Zou Wenhuai started this movie boom two years in advance!
(End of this chapter)